Page 49 of Vanish From Sight

When he finally reached the water, he waded in. His toes numbed instantly in his boots. The current pulled at his knees, trying to drag him down. Noah grabbed Ray’s jacket, flipped him over and placed two fingers on his neck.

There was a pulse. It was weak. But he was still alive.

Noah dragged him to dry land, heaving his body up the slippery slope until he could get him to a flat piece of land. There, with trembling hands, he began performing CPR. His chest compressions were quick and forceful as he fought to bring him back from the brink of death.

He had no way of knowing how long he’d been out here, only that he was in a bad state. “I’m not burying another. Don’t you die on me,” he implored.

Tears welled in his eyes.

The crash of water continued behind, a cool mist blew over him, chilling him to the bone. Yet now it was all at the back ofhis mind as Noah focused solely on the task of saving his brother.

“C’mon!”

For what felt like an eternity, Noah worked tirelessly to revive his brother, his arms aching and his heart breaking with each passing moment. And then, just as he was about to give up, Ray’s chest suddenly rose and fell, and he spewed water.

Relief hit Noah as he moved him into the recovery position and watched life return.

Adrenaline dumped out of his system, leaving him numb and panting from tiredness as he tried to make sense of the situation. He pulled out his phone from his pocket and rose to place a call for emergency service.

“I need an ambulance,” he began.

“Noah, hang up,” Ray cried, waving him off.

Noah glanced back, his face contorting in confusion. “Hold on a second,” he said to the dispatch as he put his hand over the phone. “I’ve got to get you to a hospital.”

“Hang up!” he said, struggling for breath.

“Sir?” the dispatch asked.

Against his better judgment, Noah got back on the phone. “Sorry, um. Cancel that request.” Getting off the phone, he stared at Ray. “How long have you been out here?”

“I don’t know,” he said, out of breath and coughing hard.

Noah removed his jacket and wrapped it around his shivering body. “You need a hospital. Hypothermia is setting in,” he said, helping him to his feet, a task that wasn’t easy. He curled an arm around him and had to use all his strength just to get him up.

“You take me to the hospital; they will put me on a 5150 hold. Then they’ll take away my badge and…” He coughed hard.

“No. You fell in, they’ll…”

“I’m not going.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I’mnotgoing.”

“Give me one reason why not?”

“Because I never fell in,” he croaked out.

Noah glanced at his brother. He didn’t need to explain.

Often those experiencing a mental health crisis could be involuntarily detained for 72 hours while they were evaluated to see if they were a danger to themselves or others.

Shivering hard, Noah carried Ray in a fireman’s lift just to get him back to the Bronco as his legs were too numb and barely functioning.

He dumped him into the passenger side, took a blanket from the back and covered his body while he went and got his IFAK kit out. It was designed for high-stress emergency situations. Inside were survival items: a tourniquet, hemostatic gauze, adhesive bandages, trauma shears, chest seals among other things. He tore out the emergency blanket used to keep patients warm and prevent hypothermia. It was also known as a space blanket because of its highly reflective plastic and its ability to retain body heat and maintain temperature. Noah wrapped it around his body.

He got in the other side and fired up the engine, blasting the heat to warm his body.